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(An imprint of New Saraswati House (India) Pvt. Ltd.)New Delhi-110002 (INDIA)

The English Treasure

7

Answer Key

(An imprint of New Saraswati House (India) Pvt. Ltd.)

R

Second Floor, MGM Tower, 19 Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi-110002 (India) Phone : +91-11-43556600Fax : +91-11-43556688E-mail : [email protected] : www.saraswatihouse.comCIN : U22110DL2013PTC262320Import-Export Licence No. 0513086293

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• Ahmedabad (079) 22160722 • Bengaluru (080) 26619880, 26676396 • Bhopal +91-7554003654 • Chennai (044) 28416531 • Dehradun 09837452852• Guwahati (0361) 2457198• Hyderabad (040) 42615566 • Jaipur (0141) 4006022 • Jalandhar (0181) 4642600, 4643600 • Kochi (0484) 4033369 • Kolkata (033) 40042314 • Lucknow (0522) 4062517 • Mumbai (022) 28737050, 28737090 • Patna (0612) 2570403 • Ranchi (0651) 2244654

First published 2016

ISBN: 978-93-5199-807-5

Published by: New Saraswati House (India) Pvt. Ltd.19 Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi-110002 (India)

©Reserved with the Publishers

All rights reserved under the Copyright Act. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transcribed, transmitted, stored in a retrieval system or translated into any language or computer, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, optical, chemical, manual, photocopy or otherwise without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Printed at: Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., Sahibabad (Uttar Pradesh)

978-93-5199-758-0

(An imprint of New Saraswati House (India) Pvt. Ltd.)

R

Second Floor, MGM Tower, 19 Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi-110002 (India) Phone : +91-11-43556600Fax : +91-11-43556688E-mail : [email protected] : www.saraswatihouse.comCIN : U22110DL2013PTC262320Import-Export Licence No. 0513086293

Branches:

• Ahmedabad (079) 22160722 • Bengaluru (080) 26619880, 26676396 • Bhopal +91-7554003654 • Chennai (044) 28416531 • Dehradun 09837452852• Guwahati (0361) 2457198• Hyderabad (040) 42615566 • Jaipur (0141) 4006022 • Jalandhar (0181) 4642600, 4643600 • Kochi (0484) 4033369 • Kolkata (033) 40042314 • Lucknow (0522) 4062517 • Mumbai (022) 28737050, 28737090 • Patna (0612) 2570403 • Ranchi (0651) 2244654

First published 2016

ISBN: 978-93-5199-807-5

Published by: New Saraswati House (India) Pvt. Ltd.19 Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi-110002 (India)

©Reserved with the Publishers

All rights reserved under the Copyright Act. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transcribed, transmitted, stored in a retrieval system or translated into any language or computer, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, optical, chemical, manual, photocopy or otherwise without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Printed at: Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., Sahibabad (Uttar Pradesh)

1. The Unseen Playmate 1

2. The Use of Force 4

3. Sinbad the Sailor’s Third Voyage 6

4. The Two Old Bachelors 9

5. Tryst with Destiny 12

6. Black Beauty 15

7. Gathering Leaves 17

8. The Eyes Have It 19

9. A Little Night Music 21

10. The Model Millionaire 24

11. Concerning Chambermaids 26

12. Piano 29

13. The Letter ‘A’ 31

14. Drunken Stupor 34

15. The Donkey 36

16. The Adventures of the Beryl Coronet 39

17. Tartary 41

18. The Post Office 43

Contents

1

A. 1. a. The ‘his’ under discussion is the unseen playmate. b. No one can draw his picture because nobody has seen him. c. What is special about the playmate is that nobody has

heard or seen him, yet he’s sure to be present, abroad or at home, when the children are happy and playing alone.

2. a. You can attribute your happiness-without-a-reason to the presence of the playmate.

b. The playmate lies in the laurels, He runs on the grass. c. He sings when you tinkle the musical glass. B. 1. The playmate comes out of the wood when the children are

happy, lonely and good. 2. The playmate loves to be little and hates to be big. 3. The playmate is the Friend of the Children because whenever

children feel lonely, the playmate comes around. It is due to the playmate that the children can enjoy themselves and feel happy.

4. The playmate takes care of the playthings when they are lying in cupboard or shelf.

5. One can find the playmate in the caves that one digs. One can also find him taking sides with the Frenchmen soldiers of tin when one plays with soldiers of tin.

6. Free response.

Sentences: free response 1. stern Meaning 1: firm and serious Meaning 2: the back end of a ship

Comprehension

Vocabulary

1. The Unseen Playmate

2

2. rule Meaning 1: a statement explaining what someone can or cannot do Meaning 2: to officially control or govern a country or area 3. bear Meaning 1: a wild animal Meaning 2: to accept a difficult situation 4. rich Meaning 1: owning a lot of money or property Meaning 2: containing a large quantity of something 5. rose Meaning 1: a flower Meaning 2: past tense of rise 6. capital Meaning 1: the city where a country or state has it government Meaning 2: money to start a business or investment

Sheila was a twelve-year-old girl, the only child of her parents. She lived close to the Vindhya hills in the town of Shikapur. She liked to go up to the woods and spend her weekend afternoons there. She was busy reading one day when she saw a girl her age standing close by. She was smiling. Sheila was pleasantly surprised. The girl’s name was Shyamli and she lived in the village of lotus blossoms. Sheila and Shyamli became friends and enjoyed each other’s company over the weekends. Shyamli always wore a pretty pink bracelet and told her tales of years that sounded like ancient times. One day, Sheila decided to walk over to Shyamli’s house and surprise her. When she reached there, she found out no girl lived there by that name. Sheila was quite surprised but walked back to their favourite place by the shadiest tree in the woods, waiting for Shyamli. But she never came. Then she saw the pink bracelet peeking from under a stone near the tree. Had she imagined it all, after all? Was Shyamli real or had she imagined her?

Play CD Track 1 or read the text aloud.Audio script

Listening

3

Answers

1. false 2. false 3. true 4. true 5. false

Free response.

Writing

4

A. 1. a. The father of the sick girl said this to the doctor. b. When the doctor first saw her, the girl seemed to have high

fever and was breathing rapidly. c. The girl stared at the doctor with cold, steady eyes and her

face had no expression. She clearly did not trust or like the stranger. Nor did she want him to examine her.

2. a. Mathilda’s mother said this to her. b. The mother said this to Mathilda, her daughter, because she

was refusing to open her mouth and allow the doctor to examine her.

c. The doctor reacted sharply to the use of the word, ‘hurt’. He felt disgusted because the use of that word raised an alarm in the mind of an already difficult child.

B. 1. The child seemed inwardly and quiet. She was an unusually attractive child and rather strong to look at. However, her face was flushed, she was breathing rapidly and had high fever. She had beautiful blonde hair.

2. The doctor does this because the girl won’t let him look inside her throat. He has to convince her that she can trust him so that she will let him examine her throat.

3. The mother refers to Mathilda as ‘bad girl’ because she tried to claw the doctor’s eyes and knocked his glasses right off when he tried to examine her.

4. The doctor believed that the girl might have diphtheria. He thought so because he had seen cases of diphtheria in children at the girl’s school. He had seen two of them die, which made him determined to find out what she had in order to save her life.

Comprehension

2. The Use of Force

5

5. Mathilda was trying to hide that she had a sore throat and might have diphtheria. This is the outcome she was afraid of and was lying and fighting about.

6. The doctor used force to find out whether the girl had a serious illness or not. He said that there were many cases of diphtheria in the school to which the child went. Diphtheria was obviously a very serious illness so he needed to examine her immediately. Free response.

7. Yes, the use of force helped in diagnosing the girl’s illness. The girl had lied to her parents that her throat was not hurting or that it was sore for three days. If the doctor had not used force, the real cause of her illness could not have been ascertained.

1. startled; surprised 2. motioned; gestured 3. glasses; spectacles 4. clawed; attacked 5. inspection; scrutiny

Free response.

Free response.

Speaking

Vocabulary

Writing

6

A. 1. a. The speaker is Sindbad the Sailor. He set sail again because he wanted to travel and go on a voyage once again. He had got bored with his easy life.

b. Sindbad is a grown, young man. This is clear from the line, ‘in the flower of my age.’

c. Sindbad went from Bagdad, with the richest commodities of the country, to Balsora and set sail with other known merchants for distant lands.

2. a. ‘They’ were dwarf savages, not over two feet high, covered all over with red fur.

b. They clutched at the ship’s ropes and gangways, swarmed up the ship’s side with unbelievable speed and agility; hoisted the sails, and cut the cable of the anchor. They took their ship back to their own island.

c. They drove Sindbad and his party ashore on an island which all travellers carefully avoided.

B. 1. Sindbad thought he saw a splendid palace from a distance but he was mistaken. It was a lofty and strongly built castle.

2. Sindbad and the sailors were overcome with despair because they had hoped for some sort of shelter at the castle; instead they were greeted with a sight of a pile of human bones on one side and several roasting spits on the other.

3. Around sunset, they saw a giant enter the castle. He was as tall as a palm tree and had one eye, which flamed like a burning coal in the middle of his forehead. His teeth were long and sharp and his lower lip hung down upon his chest. He had

Comprehension

3. Sinbad the Sailor

7

ears like an elephant’s ears, which covered his shoulders, and his nails were like the claws of some fierce bird. At this terrible sight, the men’s senses left them.

4. The giant took Sindbad by the back of his neck, turning him around, but since he was thin, he set him down. He found the captain the fattest among the men and took him up in one hand and stuck him upon a spit and proceeded to kindle a huge fire at which he roasted him.

5. The men, under Sindbad’s guidance, spent the day in building rafts. The giant came in at night, feasted upon one of the men, lay down and began to snore. Ten of the bravest men, including Sindbad, then took spits, heated them in the fire and plunged them into the giant’s eye, blinding him. In the morning, they took their rafts and plunged into the sea, with several giants following close at heels. They rowed out into the sea but the hard rocks thrown by the giants killed all of them except Sindbad and his two companions. Then, they rowed out into an open sea.

1. A characteristic of the slave is to be submissive. A murderer is someone who kills others, so his characteristic is to be violent.

2. c. vein; blood The function of a pipe is to carry water. Similarly, the function

of a vein is to carry or conduct blood. 3. a. violent; aggressive Cruel means merciless. So, someone who is cruel is unkind.

Similarly, someone who is violent is aggressive. 4. a. doubtful; faith Clumsy means awkward and grace is a quality of being

effortlessly coordinated. So, someone who is clumsy lacks grace. Similarly, someone who is doubtful lacks faith.

5. c. square; quadrilateral A rifle is a type of weapon. A square is a type of quadrilateral.

Vocabulary

8

My sister, Ira and I were travelling to our aunt’s place in East Africa by ship. We were enjoying ourselves thoroughly. It had been 3 days and we had had the best time of our little teenaged lives. After a game of carrom board with some other children on the ship, we called it a day and went to sleep in our cabin. Around 3 am, I was roused by a persistent tap on the cabin window, which faced the ocean. I turned on the light and gently shook Ira. She was rubbing her eyes when the knock came again. I looked out and almost instantly threw myself back in fright. Was it real? Ira was fully awake by this time. Before I could tell her to make a run for it, the knock came again and as she peered out, she let out a high shriek and fell down unconscious. By this time, our neighbours had entered our cabin and wanted to know what had happened. They lifted Ira and placed her on my bunk and just as I was about to tell them the story, the knock came again and everyone looked in the direction of the window. Two large, golden eyes in the head of a snake-like creature peered in, opened its mouth and let out an eerie cry.


Answers

1. East Africa; ship 2. persistent tap 3. Ira 4. large; golden 5. mouth; eerie cry

Free response.

Listening

Writing

9

A. 1. a. One of the old bachelors said these words to the other. b. They could not cook the mouse immediately because they

did not have sage and onion for stuffing. c. The two old bachelors ran to the town and borrowed two

large onions. But, they could not get any sage. 2. a. Someone from the market said these words to the two

old bachelors. b. The speaker was giving these directions because the two old

bachelors had gone looking for sage to cook their mouse with, and the speaker instead sent them up to a hill where an actual sage resided.

c. The two bachelors proceeded towards the hill in the north after hearing the above lines.

B. 1. The two old bachelors caught a muffin and a mouse one day. 2. A tiny slice of lemon and a teaspoonful honey was there in

the house. 3. The two old bachelors were very old. Their teeth were falling

apart, they were also losing their eyelashes and their heads were bald.

4. They looked for Sage in the shops, the market and the gardens. After that, they climbed up a perpendicular hill in the north.

5. The person in the market advised the two old bachelors to climb up a hill in the north. He told them that among the rugged rocks atop the hill, an ancient Sage lived.

Comprehension

4. The Two Old Bachelors

10

1. 3 2. 3 3. 2 4. 5 5. 3 6. 4 7. 2 8. 2 9. 3 10. 2

How pleasant to know Mr Lear, Who has written such volumes of stuff. Some think him ill-tempered and queer, But a few find him pleasant enough.

His mind is concrete and fastidious, His nose is remarkably big; His visage is more or less hideous, His beard it resembles a wig.

He has ears, and two eyes, and ten fingers, Leastways if you reckon two thumbs; He used to be one of the singers, But now he is one of the dumbs.

He has many friends, laymen and clerical, Old Foss is the name of his cat; His body is perfectly spherical, He weareth a runcible hat.

When he walks in waterproof white, The children run after him so! Calling out, ‘He’s gone out in his night- Gown, that crazy old Englishman, oh!’


Vocabulary

Speaking

11

He weeps by the side of the ocean, He weeps on the top of the hill; He purchases pancakes and lotion, And chocolate shrimps from the mill.

He reads, but he does not speak, Spanish, He cannot abide ginger beer; Ere the days of his pilgrimage vanish, How pleasant to know Mr Lear!

Free response.

Free response.

Writing

12

A. 1. a. India made a tryst with destiny. b. The tryst was that it would attain freedom from its

oppressors, the British. c. This phrase means that India was destined to be an

independent nation, that its freedom was inevitable. 2. a. ‘We’ are the people of India. b. The people of India will have to work hard because they

will have to build their country from scratch, remove the ill-fortunes they have faced.

c. The dreams are for India and also the world. B. 1. By this, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru means that years of servitude

to the British have ended and India is free of oppression and has come into its own.

2. The ‘greatest man of our generation’ is a reference to Mahatma Gandhi.

3. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru believes that all the countries in the world are closely related; that no nation can live in isolation. So, dreams about peace and prosperity are the common property of everyone. In this sense, one cannot dream about progress without thinking about the progress of others.

4. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s advice to everyone is to stay away from finding faults and blaming each other; rather, everyone should concentrate on building a nation.

5. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru likens India to a mansion because he expects that the people of India would live like one large family. He is hoping for peaceful coexistence.

Comprehension

5. Tryst with Destiny

13

1. pre 2. re 3. dis 4. mis 5. dis 6. mis 7. de 8. ex

Abhay and Deepak were partners in class. There was one major difference between the two fifteen-year-old boys. While Abhay was the conscientious one, Deepak thought nothing about giving others privacy always poked fun at them. Deepak would go through Abhay’s bag or even his lunch box without bothering to check if Abhay was fine with it. Abhay did not mind it but he would get irked when Deepak would polish off his lunch or copy his homework without asking him. Once it so happened that Abhay didn’t attend school for a fortnight. No one knew what had happened. When he came back, Deepak, in his typical backslapping manner, greeted him. When Abhay was out for lunch, he went through his things and found an old, dysfunctional pen among his things. When Abhay returned, he teased him about it endlessly until Abhay lost his temper, snatched the pen out of his hand and refused to sit next to him. He left school without speaking a word. This continued for a while. Deepak, out of his ego, refused to interact with Abhay. Soon, the term came to an end and Abhay’s family moved to a smaller town. It was then that Deepak came to know that Abhay’s father had died and the old pen was his and he had had it since he was a young boy. Deepak couldn’t have been sorrier but it was too late to apologise.


Answers

1. partners in class. 3. principled 4. Deepak had gone through his things, found an old and

dysfunctional pen and made endless fun of it.

Listening

Vocabulary

14

5. Abhay’s family moved to a smaller town 6. dysfunctional; Sentence: The shopkeeper sold me an old and dysfunctional toy.

Free response.

Writing

15

A. 1. a. The circumstance was a hunt during which a young man died, a few horses were injured and a dark horse named Rob Roy was killed because he had been crippled beyond help during the hunting expedition.

b. The weather’s description forebodes the accident. Even though it is spring, there was a little frost in the night, and a light mist still hung over the woods and meadows.

c. Darkie’s mother appeared to be quite troubled and she never visited the area where the shooting had happened again.

2. a. Darkie’s mother is the speaker. b. The hounds and the men in the hunting party found a hare. c. The men and the hounds were part of the hunting party.

They wanted to chase and kill a hare for the sake of a thrilling, pastime sport.

B. 1. The first place that Darkie remembered was a large pleasant meadow with a pond of clear water in it. Shady trees leaned over it, and rushes and water-lilies grew at the deep end. Over the hedge on one side was a plowed field, and on the other was a gate at his master’s house, which stood by the roadside. At the top of the meadow was a grove of fir trees, and at the bottom was a running brook overhung by a steep bank.

2. The colt’s memories of his master are that he was a good, kind man. He gave them good food, lodging and spoke to them kindly. He protected them from hostile and mean people. All the horses were fond of them and Darkie’s mother loved him a lot.

Comprehension

6. Black Beauty

16

3. The mother’s advice to Darkie was that he must grow up to be gentle and good, and never learn bad ways; that he must do his work with a good will, and never bite or kick even in play.

4. Dick was a plowboy who sometimes came to the field to pluck blackberries from the hedge. When he had eaten all he wanted to eat, he would throw stones and sticks at the horses to make them gallop. The master discovered this and fired him from work.

5. The hounds were chasing a hare on the command of the hunting men. George Gordon, the only son of a squire, died in an accident while on the hunt.

6. Rob Roy had apparently broken a leg and he was shot and killed because he couldn’t be of any use anymore. The statement tells us that human beings can be insensitive and cruel and don’t mind laying down innocent lives over a foolish pastime; that they are willing to pay a heavy price for a small prize.

1. a good time 2. room 3. someone’s place 4. someone’s eye 5. a secret 6. to war

Free response.

Free response.

Writing

Speaking

Vocabulary

17

A. 1. a. The raking up of leaves makes a great noise. b. rustling. c. The speaker, next, raises mountains. d. He has compared the noise that he makes while raking leaves

to the sound that a rabbit and deer make when they run away. 2. a. The fallen leaves are colourless. b. The leaves have turned colourless after separation from the tree. c. Resigned and subdued. B. 1. The tone of the poet in these lines is that of slight weariness.

He talks about doing the same work repeatedly but there is no meaning to it.

2. The implication of these words is that raking leaves and gathering them is a boring, useless, and routine task.

3. The leaves are light as balloons and are dull due to their separation from the tree.

4. The poet fails before the mountains as they do not elude or embrace him.

5. The theme of this poem is that there are many things in life that have little or no meaning and yet they are essential. The poet appears resigned yet positive. In the final stanza, the poet realises that we can find some purpose in even the most repetitive, mundane or boring tasks in our lives, such as gathering leaves.

A. ‘like rabbit and deer’ The compares himself with rabbit and deer. A rabbit is known to

hop around and a deer is known for its agility and speed.

Comprehension

7. Gathering Leaves

Vocabulary

18

B. 1. I walked all the way from the station to home because my bag was as light as a feather.

2. The dancer was as graceful as a swan. 3. Sammer was so tired that he slept like a log yesterday. 4. My uncle is as wise as an owl. 5. John was so embarrassed that his face turned as red as a tomato.

In 1969, young twenty-five year old science graduate son of a humble farmer began to sell a quality washing powder that he had created using indegenious technology. He went from door-to-door, selling this washing powder. It was environment-friendly and sold at one-third of the price of other washing detergents. The detergent giants of those days were few in India and were expensive. Within a short span, the new entrant became so popular that it gave the bigger established brands a run for their money. The new entrant also offered large-scale employment to the local people. The young entrepreneur was Karsanbhai K Patel and his product was named after his daughter, Nirupama and was called ‘Nirma’. KK Patel has twice been the Chairman of the Development Council for Oils, Soaps & Detergents. He has also been awarded ‘Udyog Ratna’.


Answers

1. The son of a humble farmer. 2. one-third 3. large-scale employment 4. Karsanbhai K Patel; Nirma; his daughter, Nirupama. 5. Chairman of the Development Council for Oils, Soaps &

Detergents; ‘Udyog Ratna’.

Free response.

Listening

Writing

19

A. 1. a. ‘They’ are the parents of the girl who travelled with the narrator.

b. The girl’s parents seemed worried because she was travelling all by herself and they wanted her to take precautions.

c. They advised her against leaning out of the windows and talking to strangers.

2. a. The girl said this to the narrator. b. The question was in response to the narrator’s question to

her, which was ‘what is it like outside?’ c. The narrator said he had noticed that the trees appeared to

be moving while the travellers appeared to be standing still. He did not actually see anything because he was partially blind. He described things from his memory: memory of all that he had observed when his vision had been intact.

B. 1. The girl’s parents had come to drop her off at the station. They were anxious about her comfort and safety because she was travelling alone.

2. The narrator was going up to Mussoorie, which is where she longed to go. So, she considered him lucky.

3. The girl laughed pleasantly when the narrator told her that she had an interesting face.

4. The girl was quite tired of people telling her that she had a pretty face.

5. The man who entered the compartment after the girl got off at Saharanpur said this. He guessed the narrator would be disappointed because he, an average man, had just replaced a pretty and charming girl who had been the narrator’s travelling companion till that point.

Comprehension

8. The Eye Have It

20

6. The climax is ironic, which makes it both surprising and interesting. The narrator was blind and tried hard to hide it from the girl. After she got off the train, he got to know that she was blind, too. So while we assumed that the narrator was deceiving the girl, the climax shows us that it was the girl who had been even more successful in deceiving him about her blindness.

Sentences: free response 1. heal 2. here 3. I 4. allowed 5. two

Free response.

Free response.

Vocabulary

Writing

Speaking

21

A. 1. a. The speaker is the poet. b. The speaker wants the window to be open in order to let the

night in. c. The night brings in all things lovely, for instance, moonlight,

fragrance of flowers, etc. By letting the night in, he means he wishes to enjoy the presence of such things that belong to the night.

2. a. Personification is the figure of speech used here. A bird has been given the human qualities of playing the trombone.

b. The crickets seem to join in the Nightjar playing the trambone. They actually don’t join the so-called instrument playing; they are just producing a chirping sound as they generally do at night.

c. The Brainfever bird calls out its monotonous notes, the Nightjar bird calls out in its characteristic notes while the crickets chirp in. The speaker feels it is a din, an off-key orchestra. The speaker lies awake, listening to the noise.

B. 1. In the first stanza, the speaker asks for the window to be opened to let the night in. He likes the moonbeams to stream in. With the window open, he can smell the fragrance of the blossoming Champa flower and also the Queen of the Night flower. Sometimes, a field mouse also comes in, looking for something to eat.

2. Owls hoot, striking a note, high in the tree tops. 3. The frogs are in the pond. They croak and sing as they float on

the lily pads. No, the speaker cannot see them; he lies in the room, listening to them.

Comprehension

9. A Little Night Music

22

1. Dr Sharma asked Pranab, ‘Will the Parwanis be attending the training?’

2. My friend, Rajan, wants to become a Hindu priest when he grows up.

3. At the boring conference, there was just one thing left to do: leave quietly.

4. President Kennedy was assassinated on 23 November 1963. 5. I will have three things on my sandwich: tomato slices, cheese,

and mayonnaise. 6. Jatin had to put a lot of his problems aside; not even his best

friend, Rahul, could help him. 7. ‘How many times must we tell you it’s not polite to interrupt

when someone is talking?’ Neha’s father said. 8. The police told the robber that there was only one option:

give himself up. 9. Are you sure you’re ready to swim in the neighbour’s

cousin’s pool? 10. The rain stopped; the sun came out.

I am Frodo, a five-year old Labrador. I belong to a family of five: my master and his wife, twins Adu and Samar and my fellow companion Sammy, who is a Basset hound. My master and his family love me to bits. The three-year-old twins cannot wake up until Sammy and I lick them from head to toe. Adu sometimes rides me like a horse. I like to believe I am her noble steed! Sammy runs away as soon as he realises Adu is about to treat him like a horse. We live in America and have a large backyard. We are not allowed to go beyond the yard but Sammy is rather mischievous and runs beyond the yard to look into garbage cans. He also steals blocks of cheese from the pantry at home! Not to mention the hundreds of instances when he has stolen the master’s lunch or poked his nose into the fresh-out-of-the-oven


Listening

Vocabulary

23

brownies that the mistress has kept on the tall counter! As for me, I wait to be given something to eat. There was this one time, when, as a growing pup, under Sammy’s influence, I polished off a 2 kg bag of dog food in one go! What a sound scolding we both got. Not that Sammy was affected in any way! There is only one thing that scares me: bath time! I love my family. I love going out on walks with them, I love being dressed in dupattas and bindi by Adu and Samar, I love sneaking onto my mistress’ lap as she reads a novel at night. Most of all, I love the sunshine and the daily games.

Answers

1. Labrador. Adu and Samar; Samy 2. he is Adu’s noble steed 3. rather mischievous 4. polished off a 2 kg dog 5. the sunshine and the daily games.

Free response.

Writing

24

A. 1. a. The old beggar said these words to Hugh Erskine. b. The beggar said these words because Hughie had slipped a

sovereign into the beggar’s hand. c. Hughie regrets having given the beggar the sovereign

because the beggar actually was Baron Hausberg, in disguise. Baron Hausberg was one of the richest men in Europe.

2. a. These words were spoken by Alan Trevor. b. These words were spoken on the day of Hugh Erskine and

Laura Merton’s wedding. c. By the above lines, Alan means that it is a rarity that

millionaires pose as models, especially as beggars. But in the story, Baron Hausberg not only poses as an old beggar but also decides to help Hughie when he finds out that Hughie has a heart big enough to help a beggar despite having less money himself. The story reinforces the fact that one does not become a millionaire with the money one accumulates but with how sensitive and big a heart one has.

B. 1. Hughie Erskine was a young, good-hearted, popular young man. He was not very smart intellectually and he never said an ill-natured thing in his life. He was handsome, had crisp brown hair, a clear-cut profile, and grey eyes. In spite of having worked at many places in a variety of areas, he had no job and his financial condition wasn’t sound.

2. The great truths of life which Hughie hadn’t realised were that there was no use in being a charming man unless one was rich. Romance was the privilege of the rich, not the profession of the

Comprehension

10. The Model Millionaire

25

unemployed; that the poor must be practical and prosaic and that it was better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating.

3. The Colonel asked Hughie to earn ten thousand pounds of his own in order to be able to marry Laura. He had placed such a condition because he wanted his daughter to be well-provided for. This condition was justified because it is important to earn enough to live decently.

4. The beggar was actually Baron Hausberg, one of the richest men in Europe. The beggar model had a wizened face and looked quite miserable. His tattered cloak and patched boots gave him the look of a typical beggar. So Hughie mistook him to a real beggar.

5. Hughie ends up having a brighter and much better future than he had expected. Not just this, he also ends up with the girl he loves. All this happens because he was kind, and kindness repays kindness.

A. 1. friendly 2. idle 3. dull 4. practical 5. incapable B. 1. unromantic 2. cheerful 3. shrivel 4. charming 5. untidiness

Free response.

Free response.

Vocabulary

Writing

Speaking

26

A. 1. a. The narrator is upset with such an arrangement because when he reads at night, the light from the gas-burner across dazzles his eyes and consequently, he has to keep the book aloft in order to avoid it.

b. They place the pillows on the head side of the bed, which is actually where the pillows ought to be placed.

c. As an outcome of this, the narrator has to hold the book aloft while reading to keep the light from dazzling his eyes.

2. a. Chambermaids move things away from where the narrator places them and place them elsewhere. This habit of theirs has annoyed the speaker.

b. According to the narrator, chambermaids love to move things back to their original place because it is in their nature to do so. He also believes they do this because they find pleasure in annoying him.

c. He calls them mean, contrary, and villains. B. 1. According to the narrator, chambermaids defy everything the

narrator does in order to embitter his life. 2. They push the trunk back against the wall. The narrator pulls

it six inches away from the wall so that the lid may rest open. When the chambermaids push it back, it inconveniences the narrator because he has to pull the trunk ahead each time.

3. The chambermaids push the boots into inaccessible places. They deposit them as far under the bed as the wall will permit. As a result, the narrator is compelled to get down in an undignified manner and make wild sweeps for them in the dark with the bootjack.

Comprehension

11. Concerning Chambermaids

27

4. They want him to go back down-stairs after it, when he comes back tired, or they want to make him take the trouble of sending a waiter down for it, after which, the waiter will expect you to pay him something. He assumes they divide the tip.

5. The narrator wants to get a bill passed through the legislature abolishing chambermaids altogether.

A. 1. chambermaids 2. downstairs 3. hair-oil 4. matchbox 5. rocking-chair 6. slop-bucket B. 1. basketball 2. everything 3. fireflies 4. without 5. earthquake Sentences: free response

Atharva was a bright boy but he had a terrible habit: he would never keep things back after using them. The toothbrush caps would be lying around the sink, his cupboard would be left open and clothes would be on the bed. His study table would be strewn with open books. The pens and pencils would never be found in the pen stand. One day, his mother decided this had gone on far too long. She would not do his work for him. She knew he had a practical test the following day. She also knew that he would need his lab coat, which he had thrown on the bed after he had come back from school one day. His pet basset hound, Frodo, was fond of chewing on things and had taken the lab coat under the bed and chewed away a major chunk of cloth from it. Mother knew about this incident, too, but chose to keep quiet about it. She had to make him feel responsible, after all. The day of the test arrived and just as predicted, he couldn’t find his lab coat anywhere. His teacher refused to let him inside the lab and he lost 25 marks as a result. Atharva learnt his lesson the hard way.


Vocabulary

Listening

28

Answers

1. true 2. false 3. false 4. true 5. true

Free response.

Writing

29

A. 1. a. A woman playing the piano has taken the poet who is the speaker, down the vista of years. The phrase means going down the memory lane.

b. It is dusk and the woman sings softly. c. The singer triggers a happy memory of the poet’s childhood

when he would sit with his mother at the piano. 2. a. The poet means that he did not intend to be taken back to

his childhood but he did. b. The poet thinks the song is insidious because he is reminded

of a happy childhood and it is a stark contrast against his adult years.

c. The song leads to the poet’s heart weeping to go back to his childhood days.

B. 1. The speaker’s heart weeps to go back into the past because those days of childhood were innocent, carefree, enjoyable, and filled with warmth.

2. The poet describes Sunday evenings as ones filled with singing of hymns, which suggests a comfortable atmosphere. They sat in a cozy parlour with the piano being their central guiding element. He contrasts it with the cold winter outside.

3. The poet calls the singing of the woman vain because those days of happy childhood are lost to him and her singing, beautiful as it may be, can no longer brighten up his day.

4. The piano is decribed as ‘great’, which emphasises its size and also the large effect it has on his memory.

5. A simile is, ‘weep like a child for the past’; and the phrase that best describes his unwillingness to go back into the past is, ‘Betrays me back’.

Comprehension

12. Piano

30

1. heart of me weeps; the heart has a mind of its own and feels independent of the speaker.

2. piano our guide; the piano is personified as a guide who helped them through cold winters.

Free response.

Free response.

Speaking

Writing

Vocabulary

31

A. 1. a. The momentous decision was mother’s determination to treat Christy like any other child and as an integral part of the family, in spite of being told by the doctors that everyone should forget he was a ‘human creature’.

b. It meant that Christy would always have his mother to help him fight all the battles and to inspire him with new strength when he would feel beaten.

c. They fought against the relatives’ contention that he was to be taken kindly, sympathetically, but not seriously. Mother set out to prove he was not an ‘idiot.’

2. a. The mother said ‘never’ to a suggestion that her son, Christy, should be institutionalised.

b. Christy’s mother was sure that though her son had physical problems, his mind was fine. She was sure that he would respond and mentally be just like the others one day, and so was against institutionalising him.

c. The relatives thought that Christy was ‘an idiot and beyond help.’ B. 1. The mother was successful because she refused to believe that her

son was mentally challenged. It was her love that guided her to keep trying and it was due to this love that her son could achieve the impossible.

2. Christy’s mother first noticed that there was something wrong with him when he was about four months old. She noticed that his head had a habit of falling backward whenever she tried to feed him.

3. His mother’s belief in him gave him confidence. Her love and affection prompted him to want to communicate with the others.

4. The stillness was profound because for the first time in his life, Christy had shown signs of any activity—he had grabbed a piece

Comprehension

13. The Letter ‘A’

32

of chalk from his sister’s hand. Everyone, including he himself, waited for him to copy the letter ‘A’ that his mother had traced on the slate. He focused hard on the task at hand and in the stillness, everything became quite clear, be it the sight of the flame and or the sound of the water tap dripping in the pantry.

5. A bright piece of yellow chalk prompter Christy to grab it and do what his sisters were doing. He was determined to write the letter ‘A’ because he wanted to provide evidence of his intelligence to everyone.

A. 1. defunct; deactivate 2. disembark; dislocate 3. examine; explode 4. inadequate; incapable 5. impossible; imbalance Sentences: free response B. 1. capable; buildable 2. motionless; aimless 3. dwelling; flying 4. dryness; fruitfulness 5. earnest; honest Sentences: free response.

My earliest memory is that of a large, white house with columns and a courtyard. The rooms were all around the courtyard. There was an open area behind the house, all fenced in. Beyond it lay a large park, which the locals called ‘The Deer Park’ although one could hardly see any deer in it. I remember an influx of guests almost every other evening and my mother sweating it out happily in the kitchen, making ‘shikanji’ and ‘Rooh Afza’ for everyone. I remember making faces at the horrid red drink which I had


Listening

Vocabulary

33

to gulp down or else fall a victim to the dreaded ‘loo’. Once, an old relative of a relative, named Ram Bahadur, came to our city and home. Mother was happy to meet this man but father and she wouldn’t stop giggling and repeatedly kept laughing at the mention of the word, ‘breakfast’ once Ram Bahadur went to rest. I couldn’t understand why until I saw the relative eat breakfast: he ate 15 pooris, 5 paranthas and washed it down with a large glass of ‘thandai’ and kept saying ‘My appetite is gone, I can hardly eat’. But for his serious-as death tone, I’d have burst out laughing to his face.

Answers

1. that of a large, white house with columns and a courtyard 2. lay a large park; called ‘The Deer Park’ 3. horrid red drink; fall a victim to the dreaded ‘loo’ 4. relative of a relative; Ram Bahadur 5. stop giggling; the word ‘breakfast’ 6. 15 pooris, 5 paranthas; with a large glass of ‘thandai’

Free response.

Writing

34

A. 1. a. Good friends, Bir and Ishwari entered into hot debates. b. The debates were about inequality in society. Bir criticised

the landlords while Ishwari defended them. Bir hated the unequal society and found the rich-poor divide and treatment against humanity while Ishwari counted such an arrangement as inevitable.

c. Bir would get agitated and say harsh things while Ishwari never got angry and kept his equanimity.

2. a. Ishwari said this to Riyasat Ali. b. The telegram was apparently sent by Bir’s parents, urging

him to come home for Dussehra holidays. c. Ishwari stressed on the expense incurred in sending the

telegram because he wanted to impress upon the servants that Bir was the son of a rich landlord but he chose to look simple and plain because he was a follower of Mahatma Gandhi.

B. 1. Ishwari was impatient and intolerant towards the servants. According to Bir, he had a ‘large measure of arrogance’ and it was so because he was rich and rich people usually displayed arrogance towards servants.

2. Bir thought Ishwari’s house was like a castle with imposing gates, sentries, and innumerable servants.

3. Ishwari knew that no one at home would respect Bir if he didn’t give them tales about Bir being rich and influential. So he created lies about Bir’s background and made everyone believe that Bir was the son of a princely family who chose to remain simple and wear khadi.

Comprehension

14. Drunken Stupor

35

4. Bir had always folded his own clothes. But, at Ishwari’s place, he was pretending to be rich, and rich people did not do their own work. So, he felt embarrassed about folding his own clothes.

5. Bir changed while staying with Ishwari at his house.Unconsciously, he began to enjoy the luxuries at Ishwari’s house and became like Ishwari: arrogant while dealing with servants, haughty, and unused to taking care of his own belongings and doing his own work.

1. not completely conscious 2. weak 3. the best example of something 4. attitude of someone who works hard 5. not noticeable 6. difficult situation that is not easy to get out of 7. tell someone that they are wrong in a serious manner 8. express support Sentences: free response.

Free response.

Free response.

Speaking

Writing

Vocabulary

36

A. 1. a. When fishes flew and forests walked, the donkey was born. b. This line refers to a remote time, much before anyone can

remember, when fishes could fly and the forests could walk. c. In the times long, long ago, according to the donkey, figs

grew upon thorns. 2. a. The donkey is tattered. b. The donkey feels he is torn and is living the life of an exile

because of the way the world ridicules and ill-treats him. c. The donkey calls himself a product of ‘crooked will’ because

he thinks his existence is out of harmony with the rest of the creation and that he was created out of a distorted or deformed wish.

B. 1. The donkey calls himself dumb because he does not go around bragging about the fact that he carried Jesus to Jerusalem. The word dumb here literally means unable to speak, which the donkey is.

2. The donkey considers himself to be the devil’s walking parody of more fortunate animals because he thinks his limbs are exaggerated and ugly; they are monstrous and comical at the same time.

3. The donkey calls human beings fools. This is so because while people underestimated him, mocked and reduced him to the worst among beasts, he was loved and chosen as worthy by one of the greatest to ever live—Jesus Christ. The ‘hour’ was his moment of glory, when he carried Jesus on Palm Sunday.

4. The donkey’s secret is that he carried Jesus on his back through Jerusalem.

Comprehension

15. The Donkey

37

A. 1. a. moon was blood b. monstrous head B. 1. bubbly personality It means one has a cheerful personality. 2. sea of sorrow It means one is really sad. 3. rollercoaster of emotions It means experiencing a variety of emotions. 4. fishing in troubled waters It means getting involved in trouble 5. light of my life. It means someone is the most important thing in one’s life.

Once, along with a group of fifteen years-and-older cousins, I was travelling from Maharashtra to Karnataka. We were all travelling by second-class. When the train would halt at a station, some vendor or the other would stream in and sell his or her goods. We did not have much to entertain ourselves with so we would begin to chat with the vendors. At Manmad, a place famous for guavas, a teen guava seller, clad in a typical Maharashtrian style saree, entered the compartment, loudly singing, ‘govaas, govaas, sweet goovas.’ We turned towards her and asked her the price. ‘Rs 3 for 1 goova, sir’ she rattled off in English. An older cousin began to imitate her and poke fun at the way she pronounced ‘guava’. I tried to distract her attention away from them and buy some guavas instead. Then I heard my cousin say, ‘Gosh! From where do these people come? Trying to speak English, hah!’ Something in the girl snapped. In English, she responded, ‘I am poor. But I’ve got a goal. I go to school and help my blind mother sell goovas after school. I study at night. I’m the smartest girl in my school. You have a right to scold me if the goovas are bad. But don’t make fun of how I speak. Like you,


Vocabulary

Listening

38

I do not have good tootion teacher to go.’ With that, she flounced out, leaving me awestruck and my cousin ashamed.

Answers

1. false 2. true 3. false 4. true 5. true

Free response.

Writing

39

A. 1. a. The unnamed noble and illustrious Englishman who owned the Beryl Coronet said this to Alexander Holder.

b. There would be a scandal if the Coronet were lost because it would be known to the public that not only was a respected, well-known figure in need of money but that one of the most priceless jewels had been stolen or damaged while in the safe custody of a banker.

c. The speaker gets an advance of £ 50,000 against the coronet he provides as security to Alexander Holder. Mr Holder advances this money from his personal account.

2. a. Alexander Holder said these words to Sherlock Holmes. b. The ‘she’ is Alexander Holder’s adopted daughter and

niece, Mary. c. The only thing that Alexander Holder did not like about Mary

was that she has repeatedly refused to marry his son, Arthur. B. 1. The client was about fifty years of age. He was tall, portly, and

imposing, with a strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was dressed in expensive clothes. His actions were in contrast to the dignity of his dress and features because he was running hard, with occasional springs. He jerked his hands up and down, waggled his head, and writhed his face.

2. Holmes pushed his client into an easy chair because the latter had worked himself up in a state. Holmes wanted to soothe him and make him feel comfortable.

3. The coronet belonged to an aristocrat—one of the highest, noblest and most exalted names in England. His name has not been mentioned. £ 50,000 had been lent against it.

Comprehension

16. The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet

40

4. Alexander Holder went to Holmes because the coronet against which he had lent £ 50,000 was stolen.

5. Alexander Holder first placed the jewel into the private safe in his office. Once he left work, he took it with him and safely placed it in the bureau in his dressing room and locked it up.

A. 1. with the air of. An air is an attitude. In this case, it was an attitude of getting

something done and over with. 2. sunbeam in house. It means that Mary was of a sunny disposition and brought

happiness and cheer in the house. 3. hang about. It means that people are loitering around a place. B. Free response.

Free response.

Free response.

Vocabulary

Speaking

Writing

41

A. 1. a. The Lord of Tartary is speaker here. b. Tartary is an imaginary place. The Lord of Tartary lives

there alone. c. The peacocks would roam around the court flaunting

themselves, the tigers would haunt the forests, and fish would swim with their fins slanting towards the sun.

2. a. The Lord of Tartary loves nature. An adjective in these lines is ‘silver-pale’.

b. The Lord of Tartary is a ruler of the hills, glens, thickets, woods, valleys, rivers, foamless seas.

c. Dale and vale both mean valley. B. 1. The lord of Tartary longed to be an absolute ruler. This is clear

from the lines: If I were Lord of Tartary, Myself, and me alone... 2. The poem paints a descriptive picture of the imaginary

kingdom of Tartary. 3. The kingdom of Tartary is different from other kingdoms. First

of all, it is a wonderland. In this kingdom, there seem to be just one ruling Lord and no other humans. Tartary is a place where there is an abundance of animals, music, and all things naturally beautiful. It is a place of luxury, peace, and beauty.

4. The lord of Tartary’s robe would be gorgeous. It would have white, gold, and green beads, which would be intricately woven in clusters as thick as seeds.

Comprehension

17. Tartary

42

1. dagger 2. Stars and clouds and winds 3. Death 4. life 5. Romeo

My mother and father wanted some respite from my sister and I during our school vacations. So, we were duly packed off to our grandmother’s place; to the cooler and quieter climes of Sirmaur. On our way to our grandmother’s, our rickety bus broke down near the rumoured-to-be-haunted Kamini Haveli. Along with two other children, Ricky and Sangrish, who were travelling with us, we slipped away and walked close to the large iron gates of the mansion. There was not a soul in sight. The evening soon turned into night and we decided to head back. The mist was rising and we huddled close and walked swiftly. After a while, we heard a voice that sounded like Ricky and Sangrish’s father. The man called out to us by our names. He asked us to go back a little and take a left turn. We had missed it due to the mist. We couldn’t see him because of the mist but he told us to keep walking. We heaved a sigh of relief because an adult was right behind us. Soon, we reached the bus. The travellers were angry because we had gone missing. After appropriate scolding, we boarded the bus. Only when the bus started, did we turn to the father and thank him for guiding us. He said he didn’t follow us at all. If he hadn’t, then who had warned us? Who had called out to us by our names?


Answers

1. grandmother’s place; Sirmaur 2. climes 3. bus; Kamini Haveli. 4. Ricky and Sangrish 5. go back and take a left turn

Free response.

Vocabulary

Listening

Writing

43

A. 1. a. Madhav said these words. He is worried and perplexed by the idea of being parted with his adopted son.

b. Madhav is talking about his adopted son Amal. Before Madhav adopted Amal, he felt free—nothing mattered to him. But now he cannot fathom being parted from his son.

c. Earlier, Madhav used to focus on making money but after Amal came into his life, his life seems to have completely changed from a materialistic one to an emotional one. Earning money became a joy as he knew it was all for Amal. He had thoughts and worries about Amal alone. He was afraid his life would be empty and meaningless without Amal.

2. a. Amal said these words to Madhav. b. Amal was a sickly child who had to strictly stay indoors and

rest at all times. He longed to go out and play, walk about in nature, be free like other people. He dreamed that once he was well, he would walk on and on.

c. Amal dreamt that while everybody will be asleep with their doors shut in the heat of the day, he would tramp on and on, seeking work far away. It was his dream to walk till he found work, even if it meant crossing many streams. It tells us that Amal is highly eager to be part of a normal world where he can experience and feel the world like normal people do.

B. 1. Amal was the son of a man who was a brother to Madhav’s wife by village ties. Amal’s mother died when he was an infant and a few years later, he lost his father, too. Madhav adopted him.

2. The village doctor said that all the organs of Amal’s little body were at loggerheads with each other—there wasn’t much hope

Comprehension

18. The Post Office

44

for his life. The only way to save him was to keep him out of the autumn wind and sun.

3. Amal told the curdseller about his dreams and how he wished he could be a Dairyman, just like the curdseller. He told the curdseller that selling curd door to door, while singing about his work was truly amazing; that he’d prefer to sell curd over being a learned person. This made the Dairyman feel happy about himself and his work. Amal, with his innocence and dreams, influenced the curdseller to feel happy about his job.

1. two wrongs don’t make a right 2. the pen is mightier than the sword 3. hope for the best prepare for the worst 4. better late than never 5. cleanliness is next to godliness 6. you can’t judge a book by its cover

Free response.

Free response.

Speaking

Vocabulary

Writing

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